Union Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan along with MoS, I&B and Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Shri L. Murugan today announced the “KASHI TAMIL SANGAMAM” to be held from 16th Nov to 19th Dec 2022. Shri Dharmendra Pradhan also launched the website for registering for “KASHI TAMIL SANGAMAM”.
The Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti (BBS) has come up with a proposal to rediscover, reaffirm, and celebrate the age-old links between the Tamil culture and Kashi that have existed for centuries. A month-long “Kashi Tamil Sangamam” is to be organized in Varanasi (Kashi) from November 16th to December 19th, 2022, during which academic exchanges – seminars, discussions, etc. – will be held between experts and scholars on various facets of the two ancient manifestations of Indian culture, with a focus on bringing out the links and shared values between the two. The broader objective is to bring the two knowledge and cultural traditions closer together, to create an understanding of our shared heritage, and deepen the people-to-people bond between the regions.
While addressing the press conference, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan said that India is a symbol of civilizational connectivity. The Kashi-Tamil Sangamam shall be an ideal platform to understand the unity of India’s civilizational assets through two historic centers of knowledge & culture. The Sangamam, to be organized under the overall framework and spirit of “Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat”, will create a bridge between ancient India and the contemporary generation. He further added that Kashi Sangamam will rediscover the link between these two ancient centers of knowledge, culture, and heritage.
Shri Pradhan informed that Kashi-Tamil Sangamam will be centered around a series of themes that cover various facets of knowledge—literature, ancient texts, philosophy, spirituality, music, dance, drama, yoga, Ayurveda, handlooms, handicrafts, as well as modern innovations, trade exchanges, edutech, and other gen-next technology, etc. Seminars, discussions, lectures, let-Dems, etc. will be held on these themes, for which subject experts will be invited. This shall be a unique learning experience for students, scholars, academics, practicing professionals, etc. on various facets of Indian knowledge systems, education & training practices, arts & culture, language, literature, etc., he added.
To ensure that the benefit of these discussions reaches the actual practitioners of these knowledge streams, it is proposed that, in addition to experts, common practitioners from various groups from different parts of Tamil Nadu be brought for an 8-day visit to Varanasi and its neighboring areas. Tentatively, 12 such groups have been identified including students, teachers, literary (authors, poets, publishers), cultural experts, professionals (practicing arts, music, dance, drama, folk art, yoga, Ayurveda), entrepreneurs, (SMEs, start-ups) business people, (community business groups, hoteliers,) artisans, heritage related experts (archaeologists, tour guides, bloggers etc) spiritual, rural, sampradaya organizations. These people will participate in academic programs, interact with Varanasi residents associated with the same field, and visit places of interest in and around Varanasi.
It is proposed that around 210 people from different parts of Tamil Nadu be put together into one group for a period of eight days. Twelve such groups, comprising around 2500 people, can visit over a month.
At the end of the Sangamam event, the people of Tamil Nadu shall get an immersive experience of Kashi and the people of Kashi shall also get to know the cultural richness of Tamil Nadu through a healthy exchange of knowledge-sharing experiences – events, visits, conversations, etc.